Living with Uncertainty

  by Dr Toby Ford, Ford Health

Published Newsletter Article:  Agforce, April 2007

The big dry is having a major impact on both rural and city dwellers, and climate change is one of those things we have little control over.  When we can't control situations and environments, our stress and anxiety levels will naturally rise.  We are seeing increasingly dry paddocks, hungry, thirsty animals and birds, and drops in incomes.  Pressure from all sides!  So how do people deal with living in uncertainty?

Some people develop self-defeating behaviours (like over eating or drinking) in response to overwhelming stress, because they focus on short-term relief versus long-term goals.  If you repeat these patterns long enough, they can become set.  Worse, you are usually unaware of them.  With some consistent mental processing, however, you can break old patterns.  You can start by heightening your self awareness, paying attention to your actions, your thoughts and feelings in different situations - becoming emotionally literate.  It is small changes to ones perceptions which appear insignificant in the moment that we must attempt to change.

Emotional intelligence (EI) is a subject that is receiving a lot of attention from researchers.  It means the ability to perceive, assess and manage both your own and others emotions.  Studies show that emotions affect our behaviours and our ability to reason.  Specifically, when you experience a positive emotion, such as happiness, you are much better at generating solutions to a problem.  In actual fact, positive moods tend to increase your decision making abilities.  Other emotions, such as mild fear, can motivate you to re-check your assumptions.  Used well and in the right way, fear can be a powerful emotion if understood, respected and used to create positive action.  On the flip slide, intense fear can paralyze and affect how you perform.

EI can be divided into four categories.  Firstly, 'self-awareness' - this means acknowledging your own emotions and staying aware of them as they occur.  Secondly, 'self-management' which means keeping flexible and positively directing your behaviour as a result of being self-aware.  Thirdly, 'social awareness', where you learn to observe emotions in other people so you can understand what they are thinking and feeling.  Lastly 'relationship management', where you use awareness of your own and other people's emotions to manage how you interact with them in a positive way.

In each case, awareness is the key.  For example, when you are happy, you breathe slowly, your heart rate is slightly increased, your muscles relax, your body feels warm, and you feel sensations in your chest area.  Contrast that with anger where your breathing becomes shallow, your heart rate goes up, your jaw tenses, your body gets hot and your whole body feels sensations.  If you understand how you experience each emotion in your body, and by becoming emotionally literate you will be able to choose the response and emotion you would rather have when dealing with a stressful situation.

You can use your EI to solve problems by recognising the symptoms that are causing you to behave in a positive or negative way.  Identify the emotions that create both the desired/undesired state.  Think about the results of your emotions.  What was the root cause that created your emotions?  Find solutions by doing something about what caused them in the first place.  Now take time to reflect and control the circumstances that caused them.

If you find you are having any problems in dealing with your emotions, if you are highly stressed, anxious or are undergoing long periods of sadness, why not talk to your GP?  The Federal Government has added a new item to the Medicare Benefits Schedule so that GP's can offer early help to people having problems with coping with mental health issues, a lot made worse with the drought and its flow on effects.  Patients who have a GP Mental Health Care Plan, or who are being managed by a GP under a referred psychiatrist assessment and management plan, have access to certain mental health service items on the MBS.

Eligible patients can claim up to 12 Medicare rebates per calendar year (in two groups of up to six services) for individual services provided by clinical psychologists, appropriately trained GP's and/or other allied mental health professionals.  Alternatively, patients can be referred for services under Access to Allied Psychological Services (ATAPS), available through Divisions of General Practice. Eligible patients can also claim up to 12 rebates per calendar year for group services provided by clinical psychologists and/or other allied mental health professionals.

References

Milivojevich A (2006) Emotional intelligence and Six Sigma, Quality Progress Vol 39, Iss 8; pg 45

http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/publishing.nsf/Content/coag-mental-overview-mental+health+care+items.htm